Masterpieces rocks

Upper Deck Masterpieces rocks. It’s as simple as that. And I don’t think that anyone is going to disagree with me. Masterpieces is universally praised by collectors on a regular basis more than any other sports card product in recent memory. Whether it’s either of the two Masterpieces baseball sets (2007 – 2008), 2008 Masterpieces football, or 2008-09 Legends Masterpieces hockey, everybody loves Masterpieces.

It’s easy to see why. First, you have a set in which every card is an actual work of art. Upper Deck hired the best sports artists out there, and they created cards that range from good to great to amazing to unbelievable artistry. The cards consist of the biggest stars, top rookies, legends of the game, and some of the most memorable moments of all time. Each card has a canvas-like texture that enhances its artistic feel. Set builders love building the set, which isn’t too much work with around 90 cards plus short prints. Player collectors love chasing the beautiful framed parallels, which are truly unique. And high end collectors love the on-card autographs.

It really is a shame that Upper Deck decided to cancel the brand in late 2008 when it was at the height of its popularity. Apparently, Masterpieces wasn’t profitable, but it’s hard to believe that there wasn’t some way that Upper Deck could have tweaked it to increase their profit margin. Many collectors would have appreciated a continuation of Masterpieces as an insert set, similar to what Topps has done with Turkey Red. Maybe it’ll be back someday. If Upper Deck remains in business after the current MLB lawsuit, it would seem that Masterpieces would be an ideal product to succeed without the use of logos. And there are few things that Upper Deck could do to win back good will from collectors than to bring back Masterpieces.

With all of the praise that I’m heaping upon Masterpieces, I suppose it’ll come as no surprise that my Evan Longoria Masterpieces cards are some of my favorite cards in my collection.

Here’s what I have so far:

Up top is the base card, which was pretty easy for me to acquire, even though I managed to not pull any Longoria cards in the two hobby boxes of 2008 Masterpieces that I busted in the fall of 2008.

On the second row are the black, red, and dark blue framed parallels. The black is pretty easy to find on eBay, but the red doesn’t show up as often. Neither of them are serial numbered. The dark blue is #/125, and it’s much tougher to find. I was able to acquire this one sometime in the first half of 2009.

On the third row are the brown, green, and silver framed parallels. The brown is #/100, and is also hard to find, although I picked this one up shortly after the dark blue one. All of the lower serial numbered parallels are EXTREMELY difficult to find. They almost never show up on eBay, and when they do, they sell for very high prices. I went more than six months without being able to find one. I finally found the green parallel (#/75) on CheckOutMyCards a few weeks ago, for a very reasonable price of around $20. I bought it in a heartbeat. Shortly thereafter, a silver parallel (#/25) showed up on eBay, and the bidding soared over $100. Perhaps because of that ridiculous price, somebody else put a silver up on eBay a few days later, and I was able to get it for about $50.

There’s a light blue framed parallel #/50 out there, but I can’t remember ever seeing it on eBay. That’s probably the only other Masterpieces parallel that I’ll be able to reasonably afford. There’s also a gold #/10, another shade of blue #/5, and a red 1/1. Needless to say, if anyone out there owns any of these, I would be extremely interested in buying them from you for a fair price.

And finally, here is my “Stroke of Genius” autograph card:

This is definitely one of my favorite Longoria autographs. It’s on-card, and it’s more than just a card; it’s like a miniature framed piece of art that is autographed.

Yes, Masterpieces most definitely rocks. And if you still don’t believe me, just wait til you see my next post…